Posts Tagged ‘Bitcoin datadir’

The size of the Bitcoin Blockchain data files continues to rise rapidly hitting 60 GB already, up with 10 Gigabytes for a bit less than three and a half months when it was just about 50GB and up with about 20 GB for the last about 7 months and most likely doubling in size in the last 1 year. The increase in size is to be expected with more transactions happening on the Blockchain as more users are getting interested in Bitcoin and the continuing adoption of the crypto currency by more users. The big size of the complete Bitcoin Blockchain data however is already a bit of a problem for some users that don’t have that much free space on their computer and want to run the Bitcoin Core wallet with the full local copy of Blockchain or people that want to be providing a Full Bitcoin Node. If the trend remains the same we are looking at about 120 GB or more n terms of size for the BTC Blockchain in just about a year, so there is something to think about…

Earlier this year we have reported when the Bitcoin Blockchain data files have passed the 40GB mark and now, just about three and a half months later, the data files have reached a total size of 50GB. This all comes as a result of the increased number of transactions and the wider usage and adoption of Bitcoin, but as the size of the Blockchain data continues to grow it also becomes harder for users to run a full local wallet. An alternative is to go for a lighter version of a Bitcoin wallet that does not need all of the Blockchain data stored locally. You can also go for a service offering online Bitcoin wallets a more attractive choice as they will save you the trouble of taking up quite a lot of space on your hard drive and the slow update times if you do not run the wallet often enough to keep it synchronized. Not to mention that if you are using the default data directory on your C drive you might be having trouble finding enough free space, especially if you use a smaller SSD for a system drive. The solution for this would be to move the Blockchain data files to another drive and run the Bitcoin Core client with the datadir parameter pointing it to the drive and folder you have moved the data files in like for example a second hard drive.

If you are using the Bitcoin Core wallet to store your Bitcoins locally on your computer you have probably noticed that the Blockchain data files have already passed the 40GB mark (about 40.8 GB at the moment). With the increasing number of transactions happening on the network the increase of the files will continue to grow constantly and this is another aspect that will cause issues for users. Apart from the serious file size there is another aspect, the time needed to synchronize the Blockchain data from scratch is quite big and it is not only dependent on the harddrive’s speed, but also on the CPU you’ve got to process all the data. If you are using the default data directory on your C drive you might be experiencing some free space issues, especially if you use a smaller SSD system drive. The solution for this would be to move the Blockchain data files to another drive and run the Bitcoin Core client with the datadir parameter pointing it to the drive an folder you have moved the data files.

Alternatively you can go for a lighter version of a wallet that does not need all of the Blockchain data stored locally such as MultiBit or Electrum. And then there is also an alternative in the form of an online Bitcoin wallet, there are multiple options available to choose from such as Coinbase, Xapo and many others. Another interesting alternative for long term investments is to use your Bitcoins, or at least some of them, to buy Gold or Silver for example from a trusted precious metals dealer accepting BTC. Then there are also many other ways to invest Bitcoins, but you should be careful as there are quite a lot of scams out there promising very high and very fast returns on your investment, so you should be extra careful with such offers.

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